Verizon promises to ferret out why system broke down By Douglas Belkin, Globe Staff | December 21, 2005
At the height of a blinding afternoon snowstorm almost two weeks ago, the state's enhanced 911 cellphone system failed, leaving motorists stuck on highways unable to reach police easily.
State authorities said the glitch, which appears to have been in the Verizon network that routes all cell 911 calls, lasted as long as 40 minutes. The result: Users who called 911 around 3 p.m. on Dec. 9 heard only a busy signal.
"Something jammed the system. The calls never got through," said Edward M. Merrick Jr., the chairman of the standards committee for the Statewide Emergency Telecommunications Board, which oversees the system. "It's a serious concern."
The breakdown coincided with a Northeaster that barrelled across Massachusetts, icing roads, crippling traffic, and decreasing visibility to just a few feet. Parts of the state received 15 inches of snow and experienced wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour.
The hour before the storm hit, the State Police enhanced 911 center in Framingham answered about 500 calls. But between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., operators received fewer than 200. It is not clear how many calls failed, but it appears a switch that controls which cell calls enter the 911 system was overwhelmed and shut down. Land-line calls still went through.
Merrick was aware that call volume had lessened during the storm, but until he was contacted by the Globe, he attributed it to not having enough operators on duty. It was only after some inquiries, and 10 days after the storm, that Merrick learned the problem may have been on Verizon's end.